A rare dry day in rainy season Congo, some of the girls and women of the Sewing Workshop set up outside the Mumosho Women's Center, creating more space for their day's lessons. M'Bagalwa Francine started the sewing training last spring. She pauses, pulling the bright green and fuschia fabric from her Singer machine, and holds up the dress she's working on today."When I make something like this, I make a profit of nine dollars. Being part of this program has dramatically changed my life. I was not lucky to be sent to school because my parents were very poor before they died and I was not a priority. My brother was, but unfortunately he did not also graduate from secondary school for luck of funds. Today I am mending my own life. I am expecting the graduation ceremony to [proceed] and I will start working on my own or join a sewing cooperative with two or three others from my program. Thank you for changing my life."
Your partnership with Action Kivu's programs in Congo gives girls and women like M'Bagalwa Francine the tools to mend their lives and craft a better future for themselves and their children. We are raising $15,000 for the Sewing Workshop Class of 2016, to graduate these amazing entrepreneurs this spring with their own Singer sewing machine, fabric, scissors, and thread to launch their small businesses and sewing co-ops, earning income to break the cycle of poverty that threatened to cut short their dreams.$200 will buy one graduate a sewing kit, purchased there to invest in the local economy. With your investment in these women's future, they'll be able to feed, clothe, and send their kids to school, growing a new Congo from the fertile ground of their persistence and hard work. CLICK HERE to donate today, and mark "Class of 2016" in the note to seller on PayPal to support their graduation!Watch the Class of 2015 video here to hear, in their own words, how learning a trade and earning income has already changed their lives!
Read more from our programs in Congo on our blog:Meet Cikwanine, Nadine, & Chanceline – three teen moms who are back in school!Meet Claudine, and read her story of coming “back to life”Meet Grandma Mwayuma and see some of the children at playMeet Amani through the Enough Project’s “I Am Congo” video seriesMeet the goats in our animal husbandry program, Your Goat is My GoatNew People, New Actions, New Congo: Christmas Celebration & New Year Resolutions